


Because of Disney Songs

by featherlight221b



Category: The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Kevin Went On A Mission To Orlando, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 17:19:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11235633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/featherlight221b/pseuds/featherlight221b
Summary: Coffee Shop!AU. Kevin works as a barista at the local coffee shop. One day, he meets someone who loves Disney just as much as he does.





	Because of Disney Songs

Job at the coffee shop was, well, it certainly wasn’t Kevin’s definition of an ideal way to spend his afternoon. The thing was, he didn’t need to be a barista and earn money, but it was still important to him. His parents were paying for his college and would probably buy him things if he only asked them to. However, working and having his own money gave him a lot of satisfaction. It made him feel responsible and grown-up. Also, the job wasn’t that bad. The aroma of coffee was nice. He got to talk with some interesting people. His co-worker, Nabulungi, was probably the nicest person he had ever met. 

Then there were the downsides. Kevin wasn’t supposed to drink coffee. He was a Mormon poster-boy. He was obligated to live healthily. But when he had to deal with the delicious smell of the hot liquid on daily basis, it was becoming kind of hard. Another disadvantage was that some of the customers were simply jerks. They could be rude, would argue about the price of coffee or claim that they didn’t get what they ordered. Ugh. And sometimes, working at the coffee shop was just boring.

In order not to die from boredom, Kevin would come up with different ways to entertain himself during work. Sometimes, when there weren’t that many clients, he chatted with Nabulungi. Other times the owner of the coffee shop, Mafala Hatimbi, would agree to play Disney songs on the radio. And from time to time, if he was lucky, the customers turned out to be nice and Kevin would talk a bit with them or even flirt (because hey, he could get really bored).

That day Kevin felt bored, annoyed and flirty at the same time. He tended to be in this kind of mood on Mondays, but today it was especially bad. Maybe it was because of his best friend Arnold going to Europe for two weeks. Maybe it was because the bad weather was having such an effect on him. Or maybe it was because his salary still hadn’t increased even though it most definitely should.

The customers came in, Kevin greeted them with a perfect bright toothy smile that he was used to faking as it turned out to be extremely helpful on his mission in Orlando, he asked them what exactly they wanted to order, he tried to convince them to buy some of the coffee shop’s delicious cookies, he took the cash from them, told Nabulungi the order, said goodbye to the customer and so on and on. He attempted to pick up a few girls. All of them blushed and smiled shyly at him, one of them even leaving him her phone number. And okay, maybe the Super-Mormon Kevin Price shouldn’t act like a playboy, but he was a twenty year old with buzzing hormones and it wasn’t like anyone took flirting seriously. Also, he carefully avoided dropping any innuendos, so it wasn’t that bad.

When it came to male customers, he just smiled at them politely and took the order (and yeah, some of them seemed like they wouldn’t mind flirting at all, but there were some boundaries that he was not willing to cross). That is, until a red-headed man around his age came in humming A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes from Cinderella and wearing a t-shirt from Walt Disney World and Kevin just had to talk to him. 

“Hello!” he gave him a bright smile. “My name is Kevin Price and I would like to take your order. Also, you don’t have to listen to me, but I highly recommend caramel mocha. Everybody says it’s delicious.”

“And what do you say?” the man asked.

“I try not to drink coffee,” Kevin shrugged.

“Me too. I’ll take chai tea,” the red-head said.

Kevin checked the price quickly, took the cash, showed the man where to wait and told Naba the order, before looking around. When his gaze fell on another one of his co-workers, Chris Thomas, also known as Poptarts (because he ate them a lot), he motioned at him to come and replace him for a while. Poptarts, not having anything else to do, obliged, and Kevin happily took the red-headed man’s tea from Nabulungi and handed it to the customer.

“Here you are,” he said. “Cool t-shirt, by the way.”

“Oh, thank you,” the man blushed slightly.

“Is it from the Walt Disney World in Orlando?” asked Kevin.

“Yes. I went there with my sister a year ago.”

“How did you like it in Orlando?”

“It was great. It’s a beautiful place,” the red-head said.

“I know right?” Kevin said excitedly. “I really love Orlando. Thanks to Heavenly Father I got to go there for a mission.”

“You’re a Mormon?” the man asked.

“Yes,” Kevin nodded his head.

“Oh. So am I,” he smiled slightly.

“Really? That’s neat. What’s your name?”

“Connor. Connor McKinley,” the red-head introduced himself.

“I’m Kevin Price.”

Connor’s eyes widened and Kevin chuckled. He knew that he was quite popular amongst the members of the church. He was known to be an amazing student, the definition of a good Mormon and he managed to convert much more people to the LDS church than an average missionary did during a mission. With a bit of help from Arnold, that is.

“Well, where did you get sent for a mission?” Kevin asked, trying to break the awkward silence that fell for a moment.

“What? Oh, um. I, uh, Uganda,” Connor said.

“Was it like the Lion King?” the Disney-loving part of Kevin asked.

Connor chuckled bitterly.

“No. It was horrible. Me and the other missionaries there managed to convert only two people and they had to move here to Utah so the local warlord wouldn’t shoot them.”

“That’s… that’s awful,” Kevin said, horrified.

“I know. But I think they’re happy now. We’re actually in their coffee shop right now,” Connor said.

Kevin blinked.

“The Hatimbis?”

Connor nodded, smiling. Kevin turned around to look at Nabulungi, a cheerful expression on her face, singing something while brewing coffee. He tried to imagine her living in a jungle. He was about to call her over to ask her if that was true, when Poptarts grabbed him by the arm.

“Come back to your work, Price. I agreed for three minutes, it’s been five,” he said.

Kevin gave Connor an apologetic smile.

“It was nice talking to you but I have to go,” he said.

Connor raised a hand and waved him goodbye.

The rest of the day passed slowly and boringly. Kevin got another phone number from a pretty blonde that seemed nice and intelligent and was wearing a cross medallion and for a few seconds he actually considered calling her later, but then he decided that studying was more important and dating could wait. At the end of his shift, he also remembered to ask Nabulungi about the Uganda thing.

“Hey, Naba, are you from Uganda?” he asked.

“Yes, I am. How do you know?” the girl seemed surprised.

“I talked to the one of the customers earlier today. I think his name was Connor. He claimed that he went on a mission to Uganda and that you and your father were the only two villagers that the missionaries managed to convert,” Kevin explained.

“Elder McKinley was here?” Nabulungi brightened up. “He should have said ‘hi’. I miss him. Yes, that’s true, he was the one thanks to whom we converted.”

“But you’re not Mormons?” Kevin was confused.

“That’s right, we’re not. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t believe,” the girl said.

Kevin nodded his head thoughtfully. Later, he told his brother Jack about meeting Connor and what he had found out about the Hatimbis. However, not longer than a week later, the whole thing was forgotten by him. There was no reason to remember it, after all. Sure, it was a strange coincidence but aside from that, there wasn’t anything special about it. Kevin’s mind was occupied by school, and then by the anticipation for Arnold’s return.

He was reminded of the incident about a month later, when Connor came to the coffee shop for the second time. At first Kevin heard a strangely familiar voice humming A Whole New World. He looked up from the counter to see a pale freckled face and flawlessly brushed red hair. It took him a few seconds to remember why did the person look familiar. A small smile appeared on his face.

“Hello, Connor,” he greeted the man. “What will it be today?”

“Hi, Kevin. An iced lemonade, please,” the red-head smiled back.

As Connor paid and went to wait for the lemonade, Kevin managed to get Poptarts to agree to replace him for a few minutes again. This time, knowing that Nabulungi knew Connor, he informed the girl about the customer’s presence.

“I’m very busy at the moment,” she pouted. “Tell him I say ‘hi’.”

“Sure,” Kevin said.

He took the lemonade from her and went to were Connor was waiting. He gave him the lemonade and received a grateful smile in response.

“Thanks, Kevin,” Connor said.

“Just doing my job,” Kevin smiled.

“No, you’re not. Your job is taking the orders and the cash,” Connor pointed out, slightly amused.

“Yeah, I guess. I should probably go back to it before Poptarts get angry with me again,” he sighed.

“Poptarts?” Connor raised an eyebrow.

“Chris. But everyone calls him ‘Poptarts’ because he loves them so much,” Kevin explained. “Well, I’m glad I got to talk to you again.”

“Me too.”

Poptarts raised his eyebrows at him as Kevin went back to behind the counter. No new customers were in the coffee shop at the moment, so Chris took the chance to talk with his co-worker.

“So who’s that guy?” he asked.

“Oh that’s Connor McKinley,” Kevin replied.

“Care to elaborate?”

“He’s just a customer who likes Disney,” Kevin shrugged.

“I see,” said Poptarts and Kevin could swear that he saw a smirk on the blonde’s face.

The next time Connor came to the coffee shop, it was the end of Kevin’s shift and he was about to head home. However, as soon as he saw his new friend, he decided to stay a little longer. He walked up to the red-head when the man received his order and sat down by the table in the corner of the shop.

“Hey. May I join you?” Kevin asked.

“Oh. Hi, Kevin. Of course,” Connor nodded, his cheeks reddening a little.

The brunette sat down, smiling. He noticed that Connor was wearing a Lion King t-shirt. Oh God, if soulmates were real, then McKinley would definitely be his. In a platonic way, of course. Because Kevin Price was not having that kind of thoughts.

“So, what’s new in the life of Kevin Price?” Connor asked.

“Nothing too interesting,” Kevin shrugged. “I’m kind of busy lately. I have to work, I have to study, I try to meet up with my friend, Arnold, as often as I can… what about you?”

“I, ah, actually, I’m having a dinner with my parents this weekend, which is good because, um, I’ve been kind of getting a silent treatment from them lately,” Connor said, looking clearly uncomfortable.

Kevin frowned. What kind of parents would give their child a silent treatment? Why? He couldn’t imagine it, he loved his family so much. But then again, he had never done anything to make his parents too angry except for that one time when he blamed eating a donut on Jack back when he was five years old.

“What for?” he asked.

Connor blushed.

“Oh, um… we don’t agree on certain… matters. And I guess they are ashamed of my, uh, how they put it – ‘life choices’,” he said.

“Life choices? What do you – oh,” Kevin blinked as he realized what Connor was talking about.

“Yeah. Oh, look at the time. I should, um, I should probably go.”

Connor rushed to leave the coffee shop, as Kevin sat there in silence, processing what he had just found out about his new friend. If he had understood correctly, McKinley wasn’t straight, as a good Mormon should be. But it wasn’t wrong unless he acted on it, right? But then again, if he didn’t, then why were his parents giving him silent treatment? More importantly, was Kevin allowed to continue their friendship? He hoped he could. After all, Connor seemed to be a great person. Troubled with this problem, Kevin decided to talk to Arnold.

“From what you’re telling me, it sounds like he likes you and you like him back,” Arnold said when Kevin finished telling him the story.

“What? No! I can’t,” Kevin shook his head.

“But you do. That’s okay, best friend. I won’t judge you,” Cunningham patted Kevin’s shoulder.

Kevin frowned. Did he like McKinley in that way? Sure, Connor was awesome. He liked Disney, he was a Mormon as well, talking to him was really nice and he looked kind of cute… but still, Kevin wasn’t allowed to think like that.

“It’s wrong though,” he said.

“Say that to all the fanfic writers, buddy,” Arnold snorted.

“But that’s what the Bible says, right? A man shall not lie with another man as he does with a woman…”

“Well, duh. It’s physically impossible,” Arnold said. “Neither of you have a vag-“

“Okay, don’t finish this sentence!” Kevin interrupted him, looking a little sick.

“It’s a normal word, buddy,” Cunningham shrugged. “Anyway, I’m sure that if you feel something romantic towards that McKinley dude, then you’re supposed to. It’s not like you want to have those thoughts. Heavenly Father doesn’t make mistakes and I’m sure He’ll understand.”

“If you say so…” Kevin muttered.

Maybe Arnold was right though. It wasn’t like Kevin wanted to feel anything towards Connor. And yet, he couldn’t deny finding the other Mormon adorable and thinking that his eyes were pretty and anticipating his next visit to the coffee shop.

The next time he saw Connor, he chatted with him, as usual, not mentioning their previous conversation. He took the order, he got Poptarts to replace him once again and he took the cup with Connor’s tea from Nabulungi. This time, however, before handing it to the red-head, he picked up a pen and quickly scribbled his phone number on it. Then, he gave it to McKinley, slightly nervous. The man took the cup and started drinking, not noticing Kevin’s handwriting.

“So, how was the dinner with your parents?” Kevin asked.

“Oh, it was good,” said Connor. “They’re a bit more understanding now.”

“That’s good,” Kevin said, smiling.

Connor smiled back. Then, his gaze fell on the number scribbled on the cup. He froze for a second and his eyes widened. He looked questioningly at Kevin.

“You can throw it away if you want,” Kevin said quickly. “But I just thought… that maybe… you’d like to, you know, have it.”

Connor was silent for a moment, before smiling brightly.

“I think I’ll keep it.”


End file.
